The facts happened last Saturday in the Brussels hypercentre, place de la Monnaie. An altercation took place between the Brussels deputy Hicham Talhi (Ecolo) and a taxi driver. In a video published by our colleagues from the Capital, we can see the parliamentarian and another man arguing in public space. The driver repeats:Give my phone, give my phone”. Then the images become less clear, but we hear: “But who are you?”, “You don’t have the right to load”...
Contacted, Hicham Talhi gives us his version of the facts. The deputy saw a Walloon taxi charging a customer, which is prohibited (only holders of Brussels licenses can take races on the regional territory without ordering). According to La Capitale, the driver used the Uber platform. “I recalled the standard. It’s social control. If I see someone smoking on the tram, I also tell them that it is forbidden. I explained to the driver through the window that he couldn’t load. I then left. The driver then came back to me asking who I was.
The driver would then have filmed “closely”with his smartphone the deputy. The latter took the phone to stop the driver, and the taxi driver then took the parliamentarian’s glasses. “In the end, I handed him his phone and he gave me back my glasses”, assures the deputy. Our colleagues report injuries to the driver resulting in a work stoppage, which the deputy formally denies.